Growth of Christian Science in America, 1901
SPEAKING of the rapid growth of Christian Science in this country, Mr. Joseph Dana Miller says in The Era that there were in 1901 four hundred and forty-three Christian Science churches and one hundred and sixty-seven societies not formally organized as churches. The denomination also maintains more than one hundred free reading rooms. The first church of Boston had in 1901 about twenty-two thousand members, over three thousand of whom had been added during the year. Six Christian Science churches recently built or now building, in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Denver, involve an expenditure of two million dollars. “It is a notable fact,” says Mr. Miller, “that the adherents of Christian Science are, as a rule, from the well-to-do part of the community. Most members of its churches have had large advantages of education, and have been fortunate in their worldly affairs. They come from what is commonly called the cultured portion of American society.”